Speaking Ill of the Dead: Why is the Media Silent on David Bowie’s Sexual Abuse of Minors?

360b / Shutterstock.com

360b / Shutterstock.com

WARNING:  POST FEATURES DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ACTS AND STRONG LANGUAGE.

The movie Spotlight highlights the media’s rightful role in holding the Catholic Church accountable for the abuse scandals.  It does seem, however, that the media can be selective in choosing whom it holds accountable.  David Bowie was a brilliant artist, a vaunted sexual icon and, according to several accounts, a serial child rapist (or, to use a word that became popular during the priest scandals, an ephebophile; that is, one who engages in sexual acts with young adolescents). In fact, Bowie referred to his underage sexual conquests as his “baby groupies.”

Catholic Patheosi, Artur Rosman offers what I think is a must-read piece on the subject.  One of the links he provides is from Music.Mic which features a video of an interview with Lori Mattix who claims that Bowie took her virginity when she was 15. In the interview, Mattix states that she had several such encounters with Bowie, including group sex with the singer and at least one other “f—– up” (Mattix’s words) 15 year old girl named Sable Starr.   The following is from the Music.Mic piece Rosman links

In the early ’70s, Bowie allegedly had a sexual relationship with Lori Mattix, who was around 15 years old at the time. Mattix was one of many so-called “baby groupies,” girls between the ages of 12 and 16 who frequently patrolled Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, a haven for musicians and entertainers in the ’70s. The age of consent in California was (and still is) 18 years of age.  Mattix, in an in-depth interview published in November, talked with Thrillist about her years as a “baby groupie,” and the time she lost her virginity to the famed artist. “He focused his famously two-colored eyes on me and said, ‘Lori, darling, can you come with me?'” Mattix told Thrillist. “He walked me through his bedroom and into the bathroom, where he dropped his kimono. He got into the tub, already filled with water, and asked me to wash him. Of course I did.”

“Then he escorted me into the bedroom, gently took off my clothes, and de-virginized me,” Mattix said. 

Mattix told Thrillist the night continued with a threesome involving Mattix and another 15-year-old “baby groupie” Sable Starr.

“Two hours later, I went to check on Sable. She was all fucked up in the living room, walking around, fogging up windows and writing, ‘I want to fuck David,'” Mattix said. “I told him what she was doing and that I felt so bad. Bowie said, ‘Well, darling, bring her in.’ That night I lost my virginity and had my first threesome.”

With all the media hype about Bowie’s passing, why is no one discussing this?  Perhaps it is because the media doesn’t mind being acolytes to the high priests of pop culture even when they are sacrificing children on the altar of art. Again, I strongly encourage you to read Rosman’s thought-provoking and informative piece.

As we reflect on Bowie’s passing, we should by all means acknowledge his musical genius and pray that God would have mercy on him.  But while you do so, don’t forget to offer up a prayer or two for the underage youths he took advantage of over all the years he spent cultivating his image as a sexual icon.   Victims the besotted media has conveniently chosen to forget.